): "And so we've been very lucky that as IBM has had a discontinuity, that they're saying, well, your Notes applications aren't going to continue to run, we want you to move to a new environment, which is some WebSphere type thing, people have had to step back and say, okay, it's not the best messaging system, Exchange has been totally focused on those scenarios, and it's not the best collaboration platform because it's sort of stuck as a pretty good messaging platform and a pretty good collaboration platform."

Gates went on to say when people think about comparisons of Microsoft and IBM/Lotus they should not think just about Exchange. "For messaging, Exchange is the best system, but we never turned Exchange into a collaboration platform. SharePoint is clearly our collaboration platform."

Gates was quoted last year saying:

Fortune: How much has Microsoft wanted to beat Notes?

Gates: There are two ways to think of Notes. One is as an e-mail product, and the other is as a deep collaboration product. Microsoft competed with Notes as e-mail. We never matched Notes in some of the collaborative features.

So, according to Gates: Notes Domino is a pretty good messaging and collaboration platform. Exchange is the best system for messaging and not the best system for collaboration. Sharepoint Server 2007 is/will be the best collaboration platform?

So, here are the Top 10 reasons why IBM does pose a competitive threat to Microsoft!!!

9. IBM is now offering a choice of desktop - with Linux and software that meets customer needs - The mantra is flexibility and choice, Investment Protection.

8. IBM offers choice for Productivity tools: targeting under and over provisioned users, which based on popular user segmentation model, is more than 90% of the desktop users!!

7. IBM productivity editors, like many others in the marketplace, but for Microsoft Office, supports ODF. ODF has been voted to be an ISO International Standard. While Microsoft is active with OpenXML, analysts such as Gartner doubt if this will make it to an ISO standard!

5.Several IBM customers are coming back to IBM after trying out Microsoft Exchange and Sharepoint. TheMigrate to the Penguin initiative is gaining momentum.

4.Solutions offered by IBM Global Technology and Business services address customer transformation needs end-end. The emerging BTO models are forcing Microsoft to speed up their "Live" capabilities! The Strategic Outsourcing team currently host millions of users of messaging and collaboration capabilities.